


Burning the Midnight Oil

by Asselin



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21878926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asselin/pseuds/Asselin
Summary: Disclaimer: Grimm does not belong to me or mine. I am not making money off of this story, nor do I intend to.2019 EDIT: A few years ago, I planned to remove all my posted stories from this account and only use it to leave kudos occasionally. However, removing what were gifts to other people without even a warning was a mistake, so as of now I'm reposting all of my Yuletide works.And thank you, CousinShelley, for sending me the email that started this!
Relationships: Rosalee Calvert/Monroe





	Burning the Midnight Oil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bodldops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bodldops/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Grimm does not belong to me or mine. I am not making money off of this story, nor do I intend to.
> 
> 2019 EDIT: A few years ago, I planned to remove all my posted stories from this account and only use it to leave kudos occasionally. However, removing what were gifts to other people without even a warning was a mistake, so as of now I'm reposting all of my Yuletide works.  
> And thank you, CousinShelley, for sending me the email that started this!

Amazing how loud a ringtone could be at midnight. Nick wanted to ignore it, but anyone calling him at this time of night probably had a good reason. Life was probably just unfair enough to make it work-related.  
  
"Burkhardt."  
  
"Hey, Nick!"  
  
"Monroe? What's wrong--"  
  
"We're at the hospital, Nick! I guess it's pretty late - sorry about that - but I just had to call and tell you: Rosalee had the baby!"  
  
"Uh, the baby."  
  
"Yeah, it's a girl. Ten toes, ten fingers, everything where it should be, the doctor says she and Rosalee are both fine. She was kinda weird-looking when she was first born, I gotta say, but they've got her all cleaned up and in the nursery now and she is... just... Aw, Nick, I can't wait to show you!"  
  
"That-- that's great, Monroe. A girl? You guys named her yet?"  
  
Blinking hard to make himself focus, Nick did his best imitation of understanding what he was talking about. Monroe and Rosalee's first baby. A girl. This was once-in-a-lifetime important and it would really hurt Monroe's feelings if Nick were to doze off and snore into the phone.  
  
"Well, no. No, actually we're still going back and forth on that one. I mean, if she'd been a boy we were gonna call her Frederick after Rosalee's brother, but with her being a girl, I think we'll pass on that. Not that it'd be the weirdest girl's name I've ever heard, but school's hard enough without putting that on a kid."  
  
"Uh-huh. Yeah."  
  
"Are you okay, man? You sound kind of out of it. Oh! Midnight, right. Look, I'm sorry to wake you up so late."  
  
"No, no, I'm flattered you thought of me. Really, it's just... I just got in from work an hour ago."  
  
"What, really?"  
  
"Yeah. Wesen stuff. My brain's not exactly awake right now. Sorry."  
  
"Don't be, I totally understand. I'll just hang up now and let you get some sleep."  
  
"Okay. Thanks for telling me."  
  
"No problem. Good night, Nick." 

  
  
**

  
  
It was wonderful that Monroe and Rosalee had a daughter, and Nick was glad for them, he really was. He just wished Monroe would stop calling him in the middle of the night.  
  
Grimacing, he squinted at the clock on the bedside table as he held his cell to his ear.  
  
"What's up, Monroe?"  
  
"Nothin' much. Except Holly won't stop crying, like, at all, and I am at the end of my tether, man. I mean, her diaper's clean, she doesn't want her rattle or her stuffed giraffe, and when I tried to give her a bottle she spit up all over my shirt. And not just that thin stuff she gives Rosalee, this was gr--"  
  
"Yeah, all right, I get the picture. But why are you calling me? This isn't exactly Grimm material. Hadn't you better ask Rosalee?"  
  
"No, Rosalee was up with her all last night and I do not want to wake her up. You may not realize this but she's pretty scary when she hasn't had her forty winks and I don't think she's even had twenty winks between last night and today."  
  
"Okay. But, look, I really don't know anything about babies."  
  
"Oh, I know. That's why I wanted to talk to Juliette, I thought maybe she'd know something from her work, for sort of calming loud, squirmy things down."  
  
Nick frowned. "Then why didn't you just call Juliette's phone?"  
  
"Uh, I did."  
  
A quick look confirmed it. At two o' clock in the morning, apparently, Juliette's ringtone sounded exactly like his, and both their phones had been lying on the nightstand.  
  
He heaved a sigh and reluctantly rolled over to nudge Juliette awake.  
  
Her first reaction was to glance at the clock and then at the phone and draw the obvious conclusion.  
  
"What's wrong? You got a homicide?" she muttered groggily.  
  
"Nothing's wrong, and not yet. It's Monroe, he wants to talk to you."  
  
"To me? Why?"  
  
He handed her the phone. "The baby's fussy. He's hoping you can tell him how to sedate her."   
  
Frowning at him, she fumbled her hair out of the way and held the phone to her ear. "Monroe? Yeah, it's me, go ahead... Uh-huh... Okay, is she running a temperature? Uh-huh... No, right, that's-- What? No, I don't think so. But you know I'm a vet, not a pediatrician... Okay, look, try turning the dryer on and putting her in her basket on top of it... Yeah... Well, you could try taking her for a car ride instead. It's the same idea and it'll get you out of the house so you won't have to worry about bothering Rosalee... Just make sure she's bundled up. And promise me you'll get her to the doctor if she does spike a fever? Uh-huh...Okay. Good-night, Monroe.  
  
"There," she mumbled. Nick had already dozed off again, so she dropped the phone on the floor by her side of the bed before burrowing back into her pillow. "Crisis averted."

  
**

  
"Nick?"  
  
"11:30."  
  
"What? I didn't get that."  
  
"I said it's 11:30 at night. Something's wrong, right? What is it, the Council? The Royals? Or just a garden-variety homicidal Wesen?"  
  
"Hey, don't bite the messenger's head off, man. Though I guess _cutting_ heads off is more in your line. I'm really sorry about the time but Rosalee said it was important and I thought you'd want to know that somebody's been asking questions about you."  
  
Suddenly more awake than he'd been a moment before, Nick turned carefully away from Juliette and lowered his voice. "The curious kind of somebody, or the 'break into my house and try to kill me and Juliette' kind of somebody?"  
  
"I wish I knew. I wasn't at the shop when he came sniffing around, it was Rosalee who talked to him. Wait a minute, I'm putting her on..."  
  
There was a brief sound of conversation muffled by distance, then Rosalee's soft voice came on.  
  
"Hello, Nick. I am really sorry about the time."  
  
"It's fine, Rosalee, just tell me what you know."  
  
"Not much. Honestly, I could just be over-reacting. Today at the shop this young guy came in pretending to be interested in exotic spices but when I tried to help him he kept guiding the conversation around to you. Just general questions, but I think he knows that I know you. And he seemed kind of... twitchy."  
  
"You think it's more than that?"  
  
"I really don't know, Nick. I'm sorry. Look, maybe I shouldn't have even called, this could be nothing at all and I'm worrying you for no reason."  
  
"Yeah, and maybe this is the only warning I get before some lunatic tries to bag himself a Grimm. Again. Better safe than sorry. Thanks for the heads-up, Rosalee."   
  
"Any time, Nick. Take care of yourself."

  
  
**

  
"He's got Holly."  
  
The words and the strained calm in the way Rosalee bit them out acted on Nick like a bucket of cold water in spite of the late hour. He wedged the phone between his ear and his shoulder so he could dress and get himself wherever he needed to be as quickly as possible.  
  
"Who? Why?"  
  
"The man who was at the shop asking questions about you, he took her and left a note in her crib. He wants you to meet him-- here, I'm texting you the address. Monroe and I are headed there now, so you'd better hurry if you want this to end legally."  
  
"Rosalee, don't do anything you're going to--"  
  
"I don't know if we'd regret it. But I'm going to try to keep this within the law, Nick. Just hurry."  
  
"Okay, I'm heading out the door right now."   
  
Rosalee hung up.

  
  
**

  
  
It was pretty late to be calling anyone. Juliette was changing for bed and Nick was more than ready to do the same himself, but he was still a little worried about how Monroe and Rosalee were coping after the kidnapping. He weighed the pros and cons a moment, then shrugged and dialed their number.  
  
Monroe answered almost immediately with a cheerful, "Hey, Nick! Nothing wrong, I hope?"  
  
"No, I was just wondering how you guys are doing. Is Holly settling down okay?"  
  
"What, tonight? I guess so. Hard to say this early, though. She usually waits until her mom and I are asleep before she starts with the yelling."  
  
"I was thinking about the kidnapping, actually. That's pretty stressful for a kid."  
  
"Not to mention for her parents and godfather, right? Well, it's been kinda tough, I don't mind saying. But Rosalee and I have been taking Holly to the shop together so we can both keep an eye on her and it's working out okay. Any time one of us has to be away from her, we do a lot texting, just checking in to make sure she's safe. I think they call it micro-managing. Hopefully, it'll wear off by the time she starts highschool."  
  
"She's not too upset, then?"  
  
"Holly? Nah, it's like she's forgotten it already, except that she's back to sleeping during the day and wanting to party all night. We'd just gotten her trained to sleep at night before all this."  
  
"Does this mean I can expect baby calls at all hours again?"  
  
"No, I swear I'll keep the joy to myself. Although... I hate to say it, but you totally deserved them, man."  
  
"What?"  
  
"No, no, stop and think: how often did you give me inconvenient Grimm calls in the early days of this relationship? At all hours, during dinner, Pilates, and dates, to name only a few of the things you've interrupted?"  
  
"That was work!"  
  
"I know, and I'm happy to help. But it was like you had a sixth sense for when I was busy, that's all I'm saying."  
  
"Well, can we consider ourselves even yet?"  
  
"This is me, magnanimously letting you off the hook. I'd better get to bed and get some sleep while I can. Nice of you to worry about us."  
  
"Hey, it's my job, I'm your daughter's godfather, remember? Good luck with her tonight."  
  
"Thanks. Good night, Nick."


End file.
